The country’s jute production fell for third year to 74.36 lakh bales in 2013-14 season as sliding export hit the price of jute, discouraging farmers to cultivate the cash crop.
In 2010-11 season jute production had hit a record high of 84.60 lakh bales as the export of jute and jute products was recorded worth US$ 1.1 billion in the year, according to Department of Agriculture Extension and Export Promotion Bureau data.
Agriculturists and jute experts said the jute growers had turned their arable lands for production of other crops including aus rice, maize and pulses in last three years as the price of jute fell on waning export.
DAE data showed that cultivation acreage of jute and production of the crop shrank every year in last three years after hitting records in 2010-11 season.
Amid high price of jute fibres in local market, jute cultivation acreage had soared to 8.03 lakh hectares with a record production in 2010-11 from 4.56 hectares in 2009-10.
But cultivation acreage came down to 6.66 lakh hectares in 2013-14 with falling price on the back of decline in export of jute and jute products. Jute cultivation season runs between March and September.
Agriculturists and jute experts said that after years of struggle by jute mills in Bangladesh, millers started to gain in 2010-11 with growing global demand.
But crises in Middle East and Arab spring movement in some countries including Algeria, Libya and Egypt and recent unrest in Thailand and Rupee depreciation in India had hit the Bangladesh jute export hard in last three years.
Officials said neighbouring India, which was a major controller of global jute market, slashed down import of raw jute from Bangladesh in recent months.
They, however, said although cultivation acreage and production of jute have fallen, per hectare production was found slightly rising due to extension of High Yielding Varieties and modern technologies among the growers.
When asked, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council executive chairman Kamal Uddin told New Age on Monday that as demand of jute in overseas market reduced, there was no alternative to enforce the mandatory jute packaging act to increase domestic consumption of jute.
He urged the government to immediately implement the mandatory jute packaging-2010 act through conducting mobile courts in the greater interest of jute growers, jute industries and above all for the country.
Kamal Uddin, also former director general of Bangladesh Jute Research Institute, said additional 15 lakh bales of jute would have to be used for making around 70 crore pieces of jute bags to be required for packaging products under the packaging act.
According to department of jute, the raw jute export has drastically fallen during the current year due to devaluation of rupee against dollar in India which was considered the largest raw jute importer from Bangladesh.
According to statistics at jute department, some 22.85 lakh bales of raw jute were exported during 2011-12 fiscal year while 20.55 lakh bales of raw jute were exported during last 2012-13 fiscal year.
But only 2.15 lakh bales of raw jute were exported till December 2, 2013, the statistics showed.
Jute department officials assumed that export of jute would be reduced by more than 50 per cent during the current year compared with the amount of raw jute exported last year.
-With New Age input
